Greg Rutherford has been training for Saturday’s Great North City Games with six hours of dancing a day this week, but the long-jumper is eager to put on a winning display to banish memories of the Olympics.

Rutherford has not jumped since his bronze medal at not-quite-as-super Saturday at Rio. Instead his focus has been on training for Strictly Come Dancing, which is where he will head as soon as he is finished in Newcastle.

But the 2012 gold medallist appreciates the importance of the City Games, held on either side of Gateshead’s Millennium Bridge.

“I’ve always been a huge believer that this is partly the future of athletics,” he said. “I always say how much I enjoy this sort of event and how important they are. So to say that all year and then not turn up is not the right way to approach it...

“The last time I jumped was the Olympic final, so I’m probably not in the best shape – but I still want to win.

“I also want to showcase this event and I think it is important for the bigger athletes in the British scene to get to these events and help showcase them. A lot of people are attracted to this, and we have to keep this event going.

“Don’t expect British records. If I catch one, I’ll be as surprised as you guys.”

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Martyn Rooney, Anyika Onoura, Lynsey Sharp, Eilish McColgan and Alnwick’s Laura Weightman will be other Team GB athletes at the free event, which starts at 1.15pm. Distance runners David Rudisha and Bernard Lagat are some of the stars from further afield.

Rutherford was carrying injuries as he defended his Olympic title but what hurt him most was his fourth jump, of 8.26m, wrongly being ruled a foul.

“The hamstring wasn’t too bad, and the ear (a legacy of a whiplash injury) was on and off, but it was more an abductor tear that we had to manage,” he recalled.

“I managed to pull out something that got me a medal.

“I put a lot into that fourth round, and got called a foul that subsequently turned out to be not a foul at the end of the competition. That’s not a fun place for your second best jump of the competition.

“In 2009, at the World Champs, they called a foul that was similar to that. I ended up being taken away from the competition, up into the stands, to discuss it with the staff and everything else. In the end, they upheld it, and they said, ‘Right, you have to get back onto the runway because you’re jumping now’.

“At the time, I thought, I’ll just do it again in the next round and I tried not to dwell on it, but now, I wish I’d contested it more.”

The competitive streak which tends to bring the best out of Rutherford on the big occasion will next be channelled into reality TV.

“I’m jumping at half two, and then as soon as I’m finished and we’ve got through Press and everything else, we’ll go back to whatever studio has been sorted and I’ll get a couple of hours (of practice for Strictly Come Dancing) in,” he revealed.

“The first live show is the 24th so we’ve got a bit of time to perfect the dances, which I’m going to need. It’s really in your face, and there’s a lot going on.”